Their car dealership is lined up along east 14th Street in Brownville. Areli Lopez took over the business since they were arrested. She said the state is to blame.

Dealers get registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue out temporary license plates. They receive a username and a password to access the department’s computer system.

Lopez said they got on the phone once their license expired in November.

“We called the state asking what to do about the cars once the licenses expired. They told us we had three months to get rid of the inventory,” she explained. “That’s why we thought we had three months to use the system… When the system let us log in, we thought were right about the time.”

Investigators found out temporary plates were being issued while their license was expired. Lopez said her relatives were arrested after a random inspection.

“When the license is expired, that’s it. You can’t sell them,” she said. “We didn’t know that. This is the first time we have a dealer’s license. We didn’t know any of that.”